CHOPPED!

This is the before shot. This was taken when I went to see my parents in Oct.

Look at that hair. . .she is barely 15 months and I can get it all into pig tails. I actually have put it all in one pony tail.

This is Kayla's hair up close. . . isn't it gorgeous!


I just loved this picture!

14 to 15 inches!

The after shot!

Yep I chopped off my locks. The gal that cut it chopped it to my shoulders at first. Then I told her to go shorter. My hair that I donated was about 14 to 15 inches. Then she cut another 2 or 3inches. So I cut off 17 to 18 inches of hair. What a drastic change it was for me. I have figured out how to pull it back so I can still play sports. I have been itching to cut my hair for several months. Finally it was just time. I have 2 friends that have 16 year old daughters with cancer. We just found out about the second girl back in Sept. I felt like I needed to do something. Some of you probably remember we were trying to raise money for Hannah several months back so I could donate my hair to her. It turned out to be way too expensive, so we gave them the money we had raised to pay bills and do what they needed to do with it. I sent my hair into Locks of Love. My hair dresser said I had enough hair for 2 donations. Well she said enough for 2 wigs. I found out it takes about 5 heads of hair to make 1 wig. So I was able to give enough hair to make about half a wig. The sad part is she only used about half of my hair for those two pony tails. She didn't add the hair on the sides because it was shorter then the back. I have decided that from now on I will grow my hair out really long and then chop it off and donate it! It is only hair and it grows back. Alex was pretty funny. When he saw my hair he told me that I needed to put it back on tomorrow! Then I asked him if he liked it and he said "no"! I love the honesty of children! The cool thing about this new "do" is everyone thinks I look just like my mom! What a compliment!

Family Pics. . .just the proofs!

We went to Idaho last week to do a lot of different things. I will blog more later on our trip. These are pictures that were taken of our family while we were visiting. We took our baby Kayla to the temple and these are a couple of the shots that our photographer got. My cousin Melissa is the photographer. She does amazing work so I had her take our family pictures. After the temple we took a picture of us all in white, and then we changed for some casual family photos. These are just a few of the ones she took. I couldnt wait to post them so here they are. I will post the ones with out the wording through the middle of it when I get them. There will be a lot more too.

This says it all. . . our eternal family!

Kayla looks like a little angel here. She is so precious!

Family photo

Kayla is holding up 1 finger. . .I think she wants us to know how old she is!

What a little stud! SO Hansome!

Adorable! I love her grin with her 2 teeth showing!

So Sweet!

Alex!

Alex says the funniest things sometimes. The other day Erik got home and the battery in his truck died. Alex and I were outside playing when it happened. He said what happened dad, the truck is broke. Erik said yah, the battery broke. So Alex went inside got into the junk drawer, found a D battery and brought it to his dad. He said here dad, here is the battery for your truck! He is such a little thinker already.

Just before Alex put on Dad's big ole work boots he was giving him a back massage. Erik is training this kid right. I got home and Alex was massaging Erik. Now Erik is rolled over and fast asleep. He was exhausted. Well Alex had to put on dads boots and try walking in them. He did a pretty good job.

Jumping in his jumper. We pulled this out after our trampoline was stolen. Yes it was stolen. . . .we woke up one Sunday morning and we were loading in the car to go to church and there was something missing. So we figure it was done the night before but neither of really remember if it was there Sat. Oh well. He was happy to have the jumper outside instead of in the basement.

This is the crazy stuff he does in the jumper. Maybe he is a future WWF man. Who knows with this kid. He has so many interests in so many different things.

Kayla!

Kayla loves to put shoes on her hands and crawl!

Kayla likes her dog! She climbed in with Lola while Lola was napping!

I left Kayla alone in her high chair while I was getting Alex ready for school. I forgot that she could reach the place mat and I set her sweet potatos far away from her, on the edge of the place mat. While I was upstairs getting Alex she was being so good. Usuallly she gets mad if we leave her in her chair too long. When I cam downstairs this is what I found!

Kayla turned 14 months this week. Nothing has really changes about her since 13 months. She still is refusing to take even a step alone, and she only has her 2 bottom teeth. She acts like she is teeting ALL OF THE TIME! I wish those darn teeth would just come in all ready. She is my independent child. She wants to feed herself all of the time, she wants to do everything herself, except for walk. Alex at this age was still wanting us to spoon feed him and hold his bottle for him.

1st day of Pre-school!

This is the pre-school that Alex is attending this year.

He was so excited he jumped out and put his backpack on and ran ahead of me!

When we got there they had a little circle time and let the parents stay for 10 min.

Miss Joany would ask questions and Alex would answer them out loud. I am so proud of my little man!

This was him running around the car this morning avoiding the camera. It quickly became a game. I snapped probably 20 pictures.

This was right after breakfast. He was checking out his new backpack and all the cool pockets it had. He picked this backpack out all by himself. I think that is one of the reasons he likes it SO much!

Walking to the car.

Running out of the house ready to go

I can't believe my little man is already old enough to go to pre-school . I remember the day we got the phone call telling us he was born. It really does feel like yesterday. I remember so clearly driving the 3 hours to the hospital. Those 3 hours seemed like a life time. I remember holding him in my arms for the first time, what a precious moment that was. Now he is my big 3 year old going to school. He LOVES school. I think he would go every day if we would let him. I asked him how his day went and he said "we had snacks" I said well what did you do? "we had snacks" I asked him a few other questions but he only said they had snacks. LOL I then asked him things like did you play with play dough, read books, draw. . .etc. . .and he said yes. They end the day playing outside at the playground. I love that they do that because their last memory of the day will be playing so he will always be excited to go back.

Kayla is 13 months!

She is such a happy delightful baby girl!

She loves to blow kisses!

Kayla turned 13 months just a few days ago.

1. She is not walking yet but I think she knows how. Once she takes off there will be no stopping her. She barely hangs onto our hands when we help her walk. If we let go she stands really well until she realizes that we let go. . . and then down she goes. She lacks the confidence to walk is all.
2. She still only has 2 teeth. I wish the others would start coming in. She has a rash on her face. . . which I am sure is from the teething.
3. She has said her first sentence. She says "don't touch it" loud and clear! One day she was getting into the garbage so I yelled don't touch it. . . she started yelling back and pointing her finger at me. I got it on video so I have proof. . .and sometimes she will say her line for you if asked!
4. She can climb up and down the stairs by herself. . .the child gate is gone!
5. She loves her dog Lola. I think she is confused though. . .she kind growls, almost snorts to mimic Lola! She doesn't really do the barking noise anymore. Maybe that is because Lola sounds like a pig and not a dog! (PUG)
6. Kayla is "grandma's girl" If grandma Audrey is around no one else gets to hold her. She will be with grandma until we make her leave grandma. (even me) I am just glad she loves her so much . . . I don't mind sharing!
7. She is the happiest in the morning. I love getting her in the morning. She is usually just sitting in her crib playing. When I swing the door open I get the biggest grin and she reaches for me. . . it melts my heart every time.

There are a zillion more things but this will be it for now. We love you Kayla!

Video disaster

Before!

After!
My kids got a hold of the video shelf! They couldn't leave even 1 movie on the shelf. (and yes Alex is naked. . . we try to keep the clothes on but they eventually come off)
This goes to show you that you can't leave them alone for even a minute!

Tie Dye

Alex's shirt!
Erik's shirt

My 3 shirts!

We went to our friends Chris and Christy Speak to tie Dye. It was soooo much fun. We helped Alex tie his shirt and then he dyed his all by himself. We had a garbage bag on him with gloves to keep him from being the one dyed. Kayla got passed around to all the adults while we took our turn tie Dying. Good Times!

Idaho Fun Part Deux!

On Sunday while I was out in Idaho we went to my Aunt Cheryls for a pot luck dinner. This was not everyone. My Aunt Janell, and Uncle Kent were there. Cousins Hope, Bryon, and Whitney were also there. Aunt Doris was there and Aunt Gaylene and Uncle James too. I think pretty much every one else is in the pictures. Sorry if I missed someone. We were lucky because it was kind of a rainy day. We had our dinner, then we hung out by the fire for awhile. . . .then a storm snuck up on us really fast and we all went inside. It was so fun to get together with everyone and catch up. I wish I lived closer so I could keep up with everyone. We need to plan more family get togethers when we come home!

Here we all are! L -R

Gill, Aunt Cheryl, Uncle Bill, Chelsea, Me, Kayla, Jill

Front---Rebecca, Boston, and Terry

We roasted marshmallows and just hung out around the fire!

Everyone LOVEd miss Kayla! She was such a sweet heart!

Tyler hanging out with Rebecca's baby Boston. (and yes he is always that happy)

Cody was throwing the football around with Keayen and Kelly!

Keayen. . . like father like son! (His dad played college football)